In sickness and in health: Atkins at large

Dr James Le Fanu says eat more fat and grow thin

There is nothing equivocal, no "ifs and buts", about the scientific vindication of Dr Robert Atkins's politically incorrect "high-fat" diet, as reported in this paper last week.

For the best part of 20 years, legions of nutritionists, doctors, health educationists, food faddists and other busybodies have solemnly warned us about the wickedness of saturated fats in meats and dairy foods - how they make you fat, clog up the arteries, cause cancer and, indeed, virtually any illness known to man.

If only we were to embrace the more wholesome and ascetic virtues of a low-fat diet - piling our plates high with pasta, pulses and bread - we would be slimmer, our cholesterol levels would be lower and we would live forever.

As we now know, however, that is not how it has turned out. When the two types of diet were directly compared, those on the Atkins high-fat diet won hands down, losing twice as much weight, with lower levels of glucose and a better balance of fats in the blood. This outcome, so contrary to prevailing opinion, requires some explanation.

Full article: telegraph.co.uk